Mapping the Demise of the St. John Ambulance Home Nursing Program in Nova Scotia: 1950–1975

Abstract

This paper maps the decline in Nova Scotia of a near-century old tradition of instruction in Home Nursing to members of the Nursing Divisions of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, and interested others, the majority women. The focus of this analysis is the period 1950-75. I argue that the gradual loss of program vitality is linked most directly to the changing and ultimately declining fortunes of the Brigade, These in turn are influenced by developments in the world beyond the organization, developments in health care in Canada and in the lives of Canadian women, who were the mainstay of membership. Through the Home Nursing program, a program to which the Canadian Nurses Association and Registered Nurses throughout Canada made a substantial contribution, the Brigade aimed to establish and maintain a reserve army of auxiliary nurses, for deployment when regular nursing services were over taxed. Successful in this endeavour during both world wars, the Brigade, a highly gendered and militarist organization, could not adapt to changes in both social attitude and social policy in postwar Canada. The demise of the Home Nursing program in Nova Scotia mirrors, if in a negative way, the emergence in Canada of a state-sponsored and hospital-focused health care system, and changing patterns in women's engagement in civic activities.